Outreach Promotes Children's Internet Safety

MIDDLETOWN — After sexual assault allegations involving the website MySpace.com, local officials are launching a community outreach on Internet safety.

``This is an emergency,'' Sgt. William N. McKenna said Monday after the first of a series of local seminars on online predators. ``If we can save some children with this, we'll be doing our jobs.''

Over the weekend, city police launched another inquiry into MySpace, bringing to seven the total number of pending cases involving children. Bristol police arrested a Berlin man last month on an allegation of assaulting a 14-year-old girl he met on the site.

Since last week, when Middletown police first disclosed their growing caseload connected to MySpace, McKenna said he has been inundated with calls from parents. He has also heard from law enforcement officials in New Jersey, New York and Michigan, who are investigating similar crimes. And he has spoken with executives at MySpace, who pledged cooperation.

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who has also launched an investigation into the site, met Monday with a group of MySpace executives, including company founder and CEO Chris DeWolfe. Blumenthal characterized the meeting as ``positive and encouraging.''

MySpace is among the most popular of the social networking websites used by teens and people in their 20s. It permits its more than 40 million members to customize their sites, with photographs, music and their own blogs or online journals.

Members control how much information they disclose and can set their profiles to private, which allows only those on the user's pre-approved list to view the site. But police warn that many teens are too free withpersonal information, posting their names, their schools, sometimes even their home addresses and phone numbers.

During Monday's seminar, held for teachers and staff at Woodrow Wilson Middle School, several teachers said many adolescents aren't aware of their vulnerability.

Seminar attendees listened to a presentation by school district educational technology coordinator Robert Polselli on online predators. Polselli also offered some tips for parents, including not allowing children to have a computer in their bedrooms and setting time limits for when the computer can be used.

The Middletown school board and the police will hold a similar seminar Thursday for high school faculty and staff.

On March 9 at 7 p.m., police and school officials will hold a forum on Internet safety for high school students and parents. A seminar for middle school students and parents will be held March 16 at 6:30 p.m. at the middle school.